Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#671

Post by prodmerc » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 7:09 PM UTC

anentropic wrote: post #289

oblio wrote: post #150

The comments here are hilarious, they really reveal the IT bubble. The only real complaint about this purchase would be that LinkedIn was overvalued. And I wouldn't bet on that since Microsoft surely sent a big team of their brightest cookies to make a valuation of the company. But other than that, LinkedIn fits: it is a corporate social network, if you will. I know that "corporate social network" is almost an oxymor…

does anyone actually interact on LinkedIn? I thought it was just a platform for recruitment spam

Yes, I got a guy in trouble for selling me a password-protected system board and not replying when I asked him whats going on (he took it from his boss' laptop, wrote it off as defective or something). Heh

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#672

Post by nostrademons » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 7:12 PM UTC

bduerst wrote: post #490

mrweasel wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It think the negativity is mostly due to the price tag. If I was a shareholder I would be furious over Microsoft paying $26billion for a money losing company. Even if Microsoft see some potential the rest of us aren't, and we have to assume that they are, they still need to find a way to turn a profit on the deal. Given that they bought Nokia, only to shut it down, more or less, it would be reasonable for the shareho…

Yeah, even assuming Microsoft cuts losses and makes the company profitable again through some product integrations, it's still a huge price tag. LinkedIn has stalled growth and brought in $2.9 billion in rev last year, which means that all things constant it will take nine years to cover the $26 B price tag. Microsoft must really have some big plans for it to justify the costs.

That's not actually that bad, if that revenue were profit. Plugging it into a discounted cash flow calculator, this investment breaks even at a discount rate of 11%, which is much better than Microsoft could get elsewhere. At a discount rate of 3%, they'd only need to generate about $750M in profit to break even.

Problem is that revenue isn't profit, and LinkedIn is currently losing money, which makes their financial value negative. So Microsoft must be assuming one of three things:

1) LinkedIn will continue to grow, enough to raise revenues by a billion or so with minimal marginal expenditures.

2) They can cut costs enough to get to ~25% margins without losing market share.

3) There's strategic value when combined with Microsoft's existing business.

Any one of these seems like a reasonable (though far from guaranteed) bet.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#673

Post by dopamean » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 7:12 PM UTC

alex_c wrote: post #651

blowski wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And I wouldn't bet on that since Microsoft surely sent a big team of their brightest cookies to make a valuation of the company. The same people who valued Nokia ($7.6 billion writedown) and aQuantive ($6 billion writedown)?

It's easy (and fun!) to criticize in hindsight, but there was a strong strategic case to be made for the Nokia acquisition back then. Obviously it didn't work out, but given Microsoft's cash reserves at the time it wasn't even a particularly large gamble.

It's not "criticism in hindsight." It's simply acknowledging that those same "bright cookies" can make mistakes.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#674

Post by lbenes » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 7:14 PM UTC

icc97 wrote: post #213

mwambua wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Skype is one of the more regrettable acquisitions. Linux support has been deplorable ever since.

At least it does work. Which of course Skype for Business completely doesn't, even in browsers (on Linux). Even then buying a Skype for Business account on Windows it's the most confusing mess as they assume that you're buying the full Office 365 suite and want to take over your email sending. Which contains this massive admin section that's basically empty and doesn't make much sense. So then you end up with some te…

From Mobile OS/Nokia to Business Chat/Skype, MS has a knack for have all right pieces at the right time and still missing big shifts in the industry.

I saw demos of Surface ( Now PixelSense ) almost a year before the first iPhone was announced. My company was using Skype back in 2006 to do what we do now with Slack. It's amazing how a top tech company can stay on top while consistently being so far behind the curve.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#675

Post by webtechgal » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 7:15 PM UTC

jpindar wrote: post #585

anentropic wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

does anyone actually interact on LinkedIn? I thought it was just a platform for recruitment spam

Absolutely. Various technical forums are active despite the horrible, horrible UX.

Couldn't have been said better - I mean, even a small, less than half-way competent team could easily build something providing a (much) better UX as compared to the LinkedIn forums.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#676

Post by Retr0spectrum » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 7:15 PM UTC

ifdefdebug wrote: post #368

id122015 wrote: post #164

how many of you use Microsoft OR Linkedin ? Upvote if result is: NO

There seems to be a rather common misconception surfacing on every single thread about Microsoft, which could be summarized like this: HN User => !MS user && MS user => !HN user

Would "Mutually Exclusive" be a better summary?

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#677

Post by rck404 » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 7:16 PM UTC

anentropic wrote: post #289

oblio wrote: post #150

The comments here are hilarious, they really reveal the IT bubble. The only real complaint about this purchase would be that LinkedIn was overvalued. And I wouldn't bet on that since Microsoft surely sent a big team of their brightest cookies to make a valuation of the company. But other than that, LinkedIn fits: it is a corporate social network, if you will. I know that "corporate social network" is almost an oxymor…

does anyone actually interact on LinkedIn? I thought it was just a platform for recruitment spam

Imagine this: A recruiter messages you and then follows up with a skype interview through LinkedIn.

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#678

Post by webtechgal » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 7:17 PM UTC

I circulated this to some of my friends and one came back thus:

So now, LinkedIn will turn SinkedIn !!

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#679

Post by krzyk » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 7:18 PM UTC

maerF0x0 wrote: post #657

novaRom wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What value is added by buying LinkedIn for $26G? 1. Integrate Skype into LinkedIn 2. Add a shared chat screen (video group chat) This will allow many Human Resources to perform interviews more efficiently (in return to subscription). I can imagine many other new attractive features MS could easily add (e.g. syntax highlighting in group chat).

And can get rid of horrible Webex calls.

Webex at least works under linux (unfortunatelly only 32bit firefox).

Re: Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

#680

Post by jpadkins » Mon, Jun 13, 2016, 7:18 PM UTC

samfisher83 wrote: post #630

When they write off the 26 billion in a few years the tax payer will be paying 40% of the purchase price.

top bracket of corp tax rate is 35%. And taking less money from a corp one year is not 'tay payer paying for it'. The federal government will take less money from msft, that is not the tax payer paying for 35% of the purchase price.